Posts
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Monday, April 11, 2005
What is a Martial Artist 3
Some people think that Chinese monks do nothing all day but practice martial arts! Well not entirely true, what do you think monks ate? Most Buddhist Monks grew their own crops and begged for alms. Obviously, much like the Catholic Church in the Middle Ages, some Monasteries grew in power and influence, thus had daily offerings and much wealth *donated* to them, usually by rich families who wanted protection and favour (monks are humans and, as such, subject to human want and need, thus some were corrupt etc). Why do you think monasteries have got golden statues and all that? Don't come from the sky ya know.
> they realised that to fully develop a martial art you have
to "get
> it" mentally [as has been pointed out in previous comments]. So the
> spiritual element of extending your spiritual/mental self worked in
> synergy with the physical hardship they were prepared to endure.
Agreed, although I don't totally adhere to the spirituality stuff, I
definitely think mental prowess are a great part of being a complete
martial artist...
> I did HK 4 times a week and I KNEW I was
> good (for my level). Then I didn't train for a year (though I
> probably did more exercise and ate better) and I have never been
able
> to return to that higher level (though, I am a far better kungfu'er
> now that I ever was, I have been training 4 times a week).
Have you taken nothing in? It is not the amount of training that truly matters, but how you train!!! Anyway, as a person improves, and thru time and effort, you slowly become to realise that, even though you may have thought you were good at one point, it is only now that
you are truly learning. With such understanding, you have to realise that you are always lacking. Again, this is something I have accepted now, something to do with "...to truly understand, is to know that you know nothing....", that is, of course, in order to be all you can
be, you must first shed the shackles of your preconceptions. I suppose that is what Tom has done, having to *unlearn* *all* that he has learnt in order to grow. Yet I digress, for
without his earlier learning, his path would not have had started as it did. Tom, would you have gone to HongKong and undertaken learning Dragon Style if you had not first been put on the path of Shaolin in HungKuen?
And I would put it to you that *all* the stuff you learnt in your first years are but a thimble full of what Master Ang (my master) can actually could teach you. You forget that many Eastern mansters had to change their methods of teaching from traditional to Western in order to compete in the West, or rather, in order to appeal to Gwailo, with Western lifestyles and sensibilities.
> There are plenty of examples of medium ability/late starting atheletes being first class >pedigree (eg Darren Southgate freely admits to being only 'average', but he plays Premiership >footy cos he always tried hard (harder than his peers), and Pete Sampras only picked up a >tennis racket at the age of 11!). So there's hope for all of us!
Of course, these are exceptions, Pete Sampras went on to become the No1 seed for many years, but what about everyone who isn't Pete Sampras or Bruce Lee? Look at Jackie Chan... he says he is not an exceptional martial artist, something which he has expressed many times, explaining that some of his peers were better at fighting or acrobatics than he was, but he has something else, his sense of comic timing, how he brings out the character etc. yet he is the epitome of average, he is of average height, looks, martial ability (for someone who studied nonstop since a very young age in traditional training etc).... this is what I mean, although he feels he is average in terms of martial ability, and perhaps his peers and martial artists of his generation are better than him, HE IS STILL AN EXCEPTIONAL MARTIAL ARTIST!!!!
I feel that this is because of his upbringing, training, culture and lifestyle, which is entirely different than mine... and thus I feel I could not attain such *averageness*...
Isn't it depressing that someone like Jackie Chan thinks he is not exceptional???
JLo
> they realised that to fully develop a martial art you have
to "get
> it" mentally [as has been pointed out in previous comments]. So the
> spiritual element of extending your spiritual/mental self worked in
> synergy with the physical hardship they were prepared to endure.
Agreed, although I don't totally adhere to the spirituality stuff, I
definitely think mental prowess are a great part of being a complete
martial artist...
> I did HK 4 times a week and I KNEW I was
> good (for my level). Then I didn't train for a year (though I
> probably did more exercise and ate better) and I have never been
able
> to return to that higher level (though, I am a far better kungfu'er
> now that I ever was, I have been training 4 times a week).
Have you taken nothing in? It is not the amount of training that truly matters, but how you train!!! Anyway, as a person improves, and thru time and effort, you slowly become to realise that, even though you may have thought you were good at one point, it is only now that
you are truly learning. With such understanding, you have to realise that you are always lacking. Again, this is something I have accepted now, something to do with "...to truly understand, is to know that you know nothing....", that is, of course, in order to be all you can
be, you must first shed the shackles of your preconceptions. I suppose that is what Tom has done, having to *unlearn* *all* that he has learnt in order to grow. Yet I digress, for
without his earlier learning, his path would not have had started as it did. Tom, would you have gone to HongKong and undertaken learning Dragon Style if you had not first been put on the path of Shaolin in HungKuen?
And I would put it to you that *all* the stuff you learnt in your first years are but a thimble full of what Master Ang (my master) can actually could teach you. You forget that many Eastern mansters had to change their methods of teaching from traditional to Western in order to compete in the West, or rather, in order to appeal to Gwailo, with Western lifestyles and sensibilities.
> There are plenty of examples of medium ability/late starting atheletes being first class >pedigree (eg Darren Southgate freely admits to being only 'average', but he plays Premiership >footy cos he always tried hard (harder than his peers), and Pete Sampras only picked up a >tennis racket at the age of 11!). So there's hope for all of us!
Of course, these are exceptions, Pete Sampras went on to become the No1 seed for many years, but what about everyone who isn't Pete Sampras or Bruce Lee? Look at Jackie Chan... he says he is not an exceptional martial artist, something which he has expressed many times, explaining that some of his peers were better at fighting or acrobatics than he was, but he has something else, his sense of comic timing, how he brings out the character etc. yet he is the epitome of average, he is of average height, looks, martial ability (for someone who studied nonstop since a very young age in traditional training etc).... this is what I mean, although he feels he is average in terms of martial ability, and perhaps his peers and martial artists of his generation are better than him, HE IS STILL AN EXCEPTIONAL MARTIAL ARTIST!!!!
I feel that this is because of his upbringing, training, culture and lifestyle, which is entirely different than mine... and thus I feel I could not attain such *averageness*...
Isn't it depressing that someone like Jackie Chan thinks he is not exceptional???
JLo
